Chapter Two: Handicap

It was the same time the next night that Nala left the other lionesses to walk to the entrance of the cave. She was walking down the stairs of Pride Rock when she heard a lioness behind her.

Nala turned her head to see Simba's mother trailing behind her.

"Nala, where are you going at this hour? It is very late.

"Scar told me to meet him somewhere. He wants to talk to me."

Sarabi frowned upon hearing the news. "Just as he called for you last night too?"

Nala barked at her, "Were you following me? Why is this any of your business?"

"Nala, I know you have been lonely…the drought has been hard on everyone. But you can't succumb to some of the….the feelings your having."

Nala was horrified at what she was suggesting, "You don't know what you are talking about! Do you think that I would be that stupid! We are just talking…..nothing is going to come of it. Why? Did you listen to our conversation last night too?"

Simba's mother frowned when she saw the young lioness turn on her only true friend.

"I saw you two. I spied on you because I care. I shouldn't have done it but I can tell you that he is preying on your pain. You aren't stupid, you're just confused. Don't let him manipulate you. Rember that he may be the king now, but he wasn't always. When he and Mufasa was younger, he wasn't chosen to be king for a reason….remember that."

Nala turned and left Pride Rock.

She came to a depression in the earth that used to be a watering hole. She saw Scar appear from behind a dying tree.

"Hello, Nala. Good to see you again."

She sneered, "Whatever. What do you have planned for me now, another bath?"

"Is that anyway to talk to your King?" there was no trace of lightheartedness in his tone. The smile disappeared on his face.

"I….I'm sorry. What did you want from me?"

"Get in the grass now," he ordered, "hurry."

Nala leapt into the yellow field. Pieces of brittle vegetation blew into the air when Scar accompanied her.

"What are we waiting for?"

"Shh."

Thirty feet in front of them, a Thompson's gazelle leapt into the clearing. It circled the deserted watering hole as if expecting water to sprout from the spot. Nala's mouth gaped and started to water when she realized that what she saw in front of her was not a mirage, but an actual source of food.

"What is a gazelle doing here? And at this time?" gasped Nala

"Look," whispered Scar.

After looking closely, Nala saw that one of the gazelle's back legs was deformed, causing it to have a faulty leap. It amazed Nala that it survived past infancy with such a handicap.

'It's lame," whispered Nala, "But how did you know that it would be here."

"It always comes to this watering hole," stated Scar, "Every three to five hours for the past day, it has been coming to this exact spot to look for water."

Nala was perplexed, "But why would it search for water in the same place during a drought? Is it insane?"

"Probably," acknowledged Scar. His trademark grin faded, "It has been abandoned by its herd because of the liability it's leg poses to the herd's safety. And now it has become mad from being so lonely. They need the company of others to be health….just like us lions," he smiled.

"Were you ever alone?" asked Nala. She thought that it was an innocent question, but reconsidered when she saw Scar's face droop.

"Why would you ask that?" he questioned, "because I seem so loopy? I was alone for a while, but I would rather not talk about it."

"Why did you want me here?" she asked tiredly.

Scar smiled again, "I'm giving you a choice. You can go and catch that gazelle and bring it back for the pride. It's not nearly enough for a full meal, but they will appreciate that more than nothing. If you decide to catch it and bring it to the pride, than you have to be my queen. Those are the rules. You don't have to be my queen, but that would result in me just killing the gazelle and keeping it for myself; none for the others.

"You're a bastard," spat Nala.

"I know." He smiled

Nala stared at the prize that lay in front of her. The rest of the pride may not be at the point of starvation now, but any month now they will be. Who knows when she would ever see another prey such as this again?"

"I…can't" she whispered, "I can't do that."

"But what about the pride?" Scar's inquiry dripped with mock concern, "What would they think if they knew that their own lioness turned down feeding her tribe just so she would not have to marry an eligible suitor such as myself. But wait…I flatter myself. Back to the fact that you would not give them such an easy meal. A small meal….albeit….a meal nonetheless in this unpredictable environment."

Nala was considering the ultimatum. If she caught the gazelle, then the other lions would stop accusing the lionesses of taking food for themselves because of Nala's willingness to share such a meager kill instead of keeping it for herself. And of course…she would not have to be alone anymore.

"Fine," she growled, "I accept."

Scar curled his chops into the most obscene smile that Nala had ever seen from him.

"Now then my queen….go fetch the bounty!"

Nala dragged the gazelle's lifeless body to the pride. She roared to wake the other lions and lionesses up.

"Nala," a lioness cried, "a kill at this time? How did you do it?"

Nala shrugged and tried to be aloof, "It was lame. Simple enough for a yearling to catch."

While the lions took turns devouring the carcass, Nala sat by herself with her own lump of meat.

"You say it was easy to catch, Nala. But what was the price for its convenience?"

Nala lifted her head to see Sarabi's face looking down on her. "What did Scar want you to do in exchange for it?" she clarified.

Nala resumed eating, "I agreed to be his mate, Sarabi. If you hate me, then that's fine."

Sarabi shook her head, "I don't hate you, Nala. I never could. You remind me too much of my dear….my d-dear Simba. I'm just disappointed that you would choose this."

Nala sneered, "I did this for the Pride. It was either I agreed to be his queen, or he would take the gazelle for himself and I would have to explain to the Pride why he reeks of blood and why I am empty-handed. You and I both know that they would blame a hunting lioness before they would blame a King. The Pride wouldn't have cared that he had proposed that deal to me….they would have wanted me to do what was best for the Pride, and I did. I did what was best for them. I gave the Pride another day to live and a queen to produce an heir!"

"You are right Nala," Sarabi sighed, "But sometimes it is good to think of yourself before others. That is of course…if what you did really was for the Pride."

Without another word, Sarabi turned to leave Nala to her meat. When she was done, Scar approached her.

"Come with me, Nala. As my soon-to-be queen, I request your company."

Nala sighed and followed him.

When they arrived at Scar's chambers, he motioned her to sit with him; just as the night before. Scar stared at her, his green feral eyes overpowering her blue ones. Before long, she turned her head to avoid his eye contact.

"Be truthful," Scar pleaded, "Do you despise me?"

On impulse, Nala was about to answer with a resolute 'Yes!' but thought about it further. Maybe 'despise' was not the word.

"Well…no. I don't despise you Scar. I—I'm just not comfortable around you. I don't really know what you are capable of."

" 'Uncomfortable?' " he repeated, "Of course I've noticed that you are uncomfortable around me…sometimes. Other times, you seem at ease. Like last night, for instance. You were uncomfortable at first with me bathing you, but then you seemed to care less and less."

The lioness remained silent. Had she really not cared last night? He had stopped grooming her too soon for her to tell if she was becoming accustomed to it.

"You have to understand how strange it was," she explained, "I didn't know what you were doing. I didn't trust you. But then when I was just starting to trust you, you dismissed me."

Scar remained silent and averted his eyes to his large paws. He did not want to seem too intimidating by staring at her any longer.

"Groom me again," Nala pleaded.

Scar's ears perked at the request, "What?"

"I…want to trust you," stammered Nala, "I want a do-over so I can learn to trust you. I am your future queen, aren't I? I need to trust you. Besides, my fur is still kind of dirty...and it has burs from those grasses we were hiding in…."

A smile crept across Scar's face. He moved closer and started to gently lick her head. Nala tried to relax as she dropped her head between her paws. He continued to clean her ears and paws with his rough tongue. While he continued to clean her, Sarabi's voice was roaring in Nala's brain.

Don't do this Nala. Do not succumb to these feelings. You are lonely and he is just taking advantage of that right now!

I don't care.

He does not care about you!

Not true.

At first, Nala, I believed you when you said that you were doing this for the sake of the Pride. But now I know better. Now I know the real reason why you are doing this.

At least I will never be alone again.

Nala looked up from the floor smiling. The inner voice had been silenced. She had won the argument. Scar stopped picking the burs from her underbelly when he noticed her smile.

"What is it?" he asked innocently.

"I won," sighed Nala, "I won." She laid back on her side and let a puzzled Scar resume bathing her.

"And Scar," started Nala.

"Yes, my queen?"

"I trust you now." Nala laughed as she said this. The voices were gone. No longer did she have to reassure with herself that what she was doing was appropriate. Now, the only thing she should be concerned with is that she was having enough enjoyment in her life. She was tired of feeling depressed.

"Excellent," he purred .

Nala awoke the next morning to Scar licking her muzzle.

"Tired?" he whispered. He continued licking her until she stood up. "You slept in kind of late. I woke up hours ago but I was in a good mood and let you sleep."

Nala yawned. "Aren't you tired too?"

"I should be since I'm not getting any younger," he responded, "But you…rejuvenated me." He laughed at his small joke.

Nala walked outside of the cave entrance to the overlook of Pride Rock. The land looked just as barren as it did the many weeks before.

"Good morning Nala," greeted a lioness' voice.

Nala looked over her shoulder to see Sarabi standing behind her. She ignored Sarabi's greeting.

"Are you okay, Nala?" asked the concerned Sarabi, "is he harming you?"

"I'm fine, Sarabi," Nala suddenly remembered the lionesses' voice who kept calling to her when she was with Scar that night. She wished that Sarabi did not care so much about her.

"And he's not hurting me," reassured Nala, "He is actually pretty well-behaved."

"You mean he is pretending to be," finished Sarabi.

Nala growled at the statement, "You know, why do I even talk to you anyway? You don't even know what you're talking about!"

Sarabi bared her teeth, but was very much hurt by the young lioness' statement.

"I think I know very much what I'm talking about, Nala. So what if you are a little bit bigger, and older than you were when you were little cubs with Simba? Do you really think that being a little older and having a mate makes you an adult? Well it doesn't. It doesn't because you will always be a cub when it comes to things that you don't know about other people's lives. I have known Scar and Mufasa long before you were even conceived, and believe me when I say that Scar can be cruel. He is crueler than you will ever know. He was exiled for things that I am forbidden of speaking of to you because they are so vile! Keep that in mind whenever you are foolish enough to believe another one of his pretenses!"

Sarabi raced down the rock stairs of Pride Rock past a group of snickering hyenas. Nala swallowed a lump in her throat as she tried to shake off the feeling of remorse.

"Don't feel bad," Scar's voice dripped , "She's just bitter because she lost her son and her King in the same day. That's all."

"Why were you exiled, Scar?" Nala asked this without even looking behind her to face Scar's venomous grin.

"It…I told you….it was a troubling time for me and I would rather not talk about it."

"But I trusted you," she pleaded, "I trusted you last night. I gave you my complete trust and you can't even tell me this one thing? I would tell you anything you wanted to know, but you still won't tell me?"

"Nala," Scar hissed, "I promise you that…."

"Don't promise me anything else," she growled.

"You are too young to understand why…" he grumbled,

"Yes,but I'm not too young to be your queen, am I?" the lioness quipped.

Nala raced down the Pride Rock to join the other lions and lionesses in the main chamber below. This time, the hyenas did not laugh for fear of being struck by the fuming king.